Apple and Google must tell users how much they are spying on them, according to US lawmakers. The Energy and Commerce Committee has written to the heads of both companies to demand they make clear whether iPhones and Android devices are collecting information about their users, and how that data is used. The letters suggest that devices might be tracking their users, including tracking their location and listening in to what they are doing through their microphone. It asks that both companies make clear their data policies, including whether that information is tracked and who it might be passed on to. The letters make reference to suggestions that – despite tech companies' claim that devices only listen if they hear their wake word – they are actually collecting more audio than that and that unknown companies might have access to recordings of people's personal lives.

Dr. Noa Ruschin Rimini, Founder & CEO Decentralization of energy supply and deregulation of energy markets, coinciding with exponential increases in the data available from energy users, have created a pressing need for software to understand energy consumers and manage energy resources. Underlying each of those requirements, are challenges that cannot be met by the analytical approaches that have been employed in the past. Predictive Analytics that forecast behavior and faults of individual meters and connected devices meet these challenges with a product suite built on a core set of patented Machine Learning algorithms. "Grid4C's edge lies in the ability to squeeze the greatest value from existing, ubiquitous data sources, non-intrusively, without needing to wait for new sensors to reach mass adoption" "Machine Learning provides a window into homes and businesses using smart meter data that facilitate granular, accurate predictions, enabling more reliable operation of the grid and integration of renewable resources and energy storage,'' explains Dr. Noa Ruschin- Rimini, Founder and CEO, Grid4C. Over the years, the company has been able to solve some of the industry's greatest challenges, outperforming the competition in industry benchmarks.

AI continues to evolve and pervade business functions and applications across industries. In retail, AI's use has moved well beyond warehouse management and e-commerce algorithms. Companies are now deploying it to help solve far more complex problems and facilitate functions across their businesses. In this report, our second in the Artificial Intelligence in Retail series, we outline some of the key areas in which 30 global retailers are using AI across business functions. We also examine in detail how two of the largest global technology-led retailers, Amazon and Alibaba Group, are using AI in alignment with our proprietary CORE framework.

Summary GlobalData's "Artificial Intelligence Adoption, Usage & Investment Trends in the Telecoms Industry", report examines the advancement in adoption of AI within the global telecom industry along with the key benefits influencing the deployment and projected investments in AI over the next two years.The report highlights the use cases and applications that have highest growth potential in driving the implementation of AI in the global telecom industry. Additionally, the report covers the information about the market opportunities expected to influence the investment in AI and challenges/ barriers encountered by telecoms businesses. The majority of telecom industry executives consider that their organization is in the development phase of implementing artificial intelligence (AI).Due to significant value and potential that AI has to offer to telecom enterprises companies are moving towards AI solutions and use cases. Improved operational efficiency is expected to be the most beneficial factor of AI for telecom companies over next two years.In total, 40% of surveyed industry executives revealed that their company has plans to invest more than US$1 million in AI during 2018-2020. Moreover, the rising popularity of AI applications within the telecom industry is supported by the increasing complexity in networking caused by growing volume of IoT devices, cloud migrations, the increasing number of OTTs and the arrival of 5G. However, lack of skill-sets and making changes to traditional organizational structures are major challenges faced by the telecom companies to adopt AI.

In a bid to nurture Indian startups working in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), Google on Tuesday introduced the India chapter of its global'Launchpad Accelerator' mentorship programme. The three-month Launchpad Accelerator India programme has been designed to grow the AI/ML ecosystem by helping the country's startups build scalable solutions for India's unique problems. The programme, based out of Bengaluru, will provide a cohort of 8-10 Indian startups mentorship and support from the best of Google in AI/ML, Cloud, UX, Android, Web, product strategy and marketing, along with up to $100,000 (roughly Rs. 69 lakhs) of Google Cloud credits, the company said in a statement. "India has the appetite to build entrepreneurs of the future and we are proud to announce a focused programme for the next wave of Indian entrepreneurs, who are using new technologies to solve the country's needs," said Roy Glasberg, Global Launchpad Founder. Over the years, Google says it has worked with some incredible startups across India who are using advanced technologies such as AI/ML to tackle everything from agri-tech to language Web, healthcare, and transportation.

An Israeli non-profit group plans to land an unmanned spacecraft on the moon in February in the first landing of its kind since 2013. The craft, which is shaped like a round table with four carbon fiber legs, is set to blast off in December from Florida's Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, said Ido Anteby, chief executive of the SpaceIL non-profit. It aims to transmit pictures and videos back to earth over two days after it lands on Feb. 13 as well as measuring magnetic fields. The craft, which is shaped like a round table with four carbon fiber legs, is set to blast off in December from Florida's Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, said Ido Anteby, chief executive of the SpaceIL non-profit'Our spacecraft will be the smallest ever to land on the moon,' said Anteby. Since 1966, the United States and the former Soviet Union have put around 12 unmanned spacecraft on the moon using braking power to perform'soft' landings and China did so in 2013.

GUESS?, Inc. ("GUESS") (NYSE: GES) has reached another major milestone in its partnership with Alibaba Group ("Alibaba") (NYSE: BABA) to bring artificial intelligence to the fashion world to provide customers with a more enriching shopping experience that combines online and offline shopping behaviors. Rounding out a comprehensive partnership that began in 2013 with the launch of GUESS in Tmall, this year, GUESS also became a global strategic partner of Alibaba's FashionAI project, an initiative to give shoppers a glimpse of what the future of fashion retail will look like powered by artificial intelligence. With the launch of the interactive concept shop driven by Alibaba AI, GUESS and Alibaba saw the implementation of the O2O (online-to-offline) project come to life, marking the maturity of the unified customer experience concept. On July 4, 2018, Alibaba launched the pilot FashionAI concept shop on the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) campus, pairing GUESS' extensive retail knowledge and latest collections with advanced Alibaba AI and other technologies on the sidelines of the 2018 Fashion and Textile Conference. Besides the FashionAI concept store's futuristic appeal, the project was aimed at providing a better retail experience for shoppers and to help brands better use analytics in ordering and maintaining inventory.

Once again, Japan is taking advantage of the technological advances available to them. The country's government is already discussing about the development of a crime prevention system using artificial intelligence and big data, as reported by The Japan Times. Mami Kajita, developer of the data-analysis company Singular Perturbations Inc. says she hopes to "create a smartphone app for citizens in order to reduce the number of crimes, even if only slightly." Since street crime prediction has been successful in Europe and the United States, Kajita said that "We need to continue examining crime mechanisms unique to Japan." Kajita also reportedly researched on street crimes in Tokyo by studying the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's emails that entail cases like theft and molestation.

Nokia and China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier in terms of subscribers, have signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to investigate the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to optimize future networks and enable the delivery of new edge cloud and 5G services. Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies will jointly establish a laboratory in Hangzhou, China to develop the demo system to verify technology use cases using Nokia's 5G Future X architecture. The deal also stipulates that China Mobile will lead the research in terms of scenario selection, requirements confirmation, open API standardization and solution definition. Under the MoU, Nokia and China Mobile will work together to research the application of AI and machine learning to ensure any changes in demand are predicted and network resources are automatically allocated to meet all service demands with consistent high quality and reliability, the two firms said. At the new laboratory in Hangzhou, Nokia and China Mobile will foster an open Radio Access Network and 5G ecosystem working with third parties to leverage AI and machine learning and optimize networks for the delivery of services such as cloud virtual reality gaming.

With new technologies disrupting businesses and changing the rules of engagement, India faces a daunting task to reskill its huge workforce for Artificial Intelligence (AI), Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan says. "India has a major challenge of transitioning its young workforce to the fourth industrial revolution called AI after the eras of agriculture, manufacturing and services," Gopalakrishnan said in an interview. Gopalakrishnan, 63, well-known as'Kris', is one of the seven co-founders of the iconic IT firm, who became its chief executive after fellow co-founder Nandan Nilekani quit in mid-2009 to set up the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for issuing Aadhaar cards to over a billion citizens. "As the large workforce is engaged in diverse occupations such as agriculture, manufacturing and white-collar jobs in the services sector, it needs to be re-skilled to sustain the jobs, as AI will replace traditional jobs," said Gopalakrishnan. Originating in the mid-1950s as an academic discipline, AI involves machines emulating human intelligence.